The Time Fitz Convices Ward To Let Coulson Live And Why
by Caseyrook
Summary: My imagining of 3.10 'Maveth." Stays with canon as much as possible. Spoilers for 3.09. So far only Ward, Coulson, and Fitz are the only main characters present.


**A/N: I will say it here and now: I HATED pretty much every line that Coulson said as well as almost his every action in "Closure." I did feel sorry for him of course, he can never catch a break, but I spent a great majority of the episode waiting for Bobbi or Hunter to knock him unconscious on the QuinJet. He still remains my favorite character but I found I needed to write this FanFic to get over his recent stupidity.**

 **My hopes for 3.10 'Maveth'**

Ward, Fitz, and the HYDRA goons were making their way up a steep hill. They had agreed that getting a view from up high was the best way to look around. Fitz continued to try and increase the distance between he and Ward but Ward was aware and always moved closer to Fitz again.

"I won't hurt you, Fitz." Ward said out of arms reach of Fitz but in prime attacking distance.

Fitz had to jump up to grab a hold to climb further up. "Yeah you will. Once my life is no longer important to you."

Ward mirrored Fitz actions and jumped up also. But he had a much easier time of it. "You know I understand…"

Fitz cut Ward off and turned around to face him, "You hurt Simmons. If I knew she was safe right now I would gladly die if it meant I took you out with me. But I know she's at the Mercy of Malick so if it's all the same to you, all I want is to do what we came here to do and get back to Earth."

Fitz words came out angrily and deliberately. Once he finished he turned around and advanced up the hill. Ward stood there dumbfounded as he considered the words. Shaking it off, he continued to follow Fitz who was a good length away.

After twenty more minutes of the climb, the group reached the top. Everyone, including Ward, were feeling the effects of the increased gravity. Normally Ward would have ordered his underlings, and himself, to push on but they had less than 12 hours to finish their mission and it was strategically smarter to allow breaks.

"We'll take a break here. But we all need to be on the lookout for any activity." Ward took out his binoculars and started surveying the distance. His men went to edge of the hill and did the same only they all sat down.

Fitz wandered further from Ward than he had been allowed to so far. He followed the HYDRA goons lead and sat at the edge to survey the lower land, only he didn't have a pair of binoculars.

After a few minutes he was convinced he wouldn't see anything, even with binoculars, so he looked straight down.

 _Was the planet really making him crazy?_

At the bottom of the hill, opposite from where the group had climbed from, Fitz was seeing his bosses body dressed in black and what looked like the harness of a parachute as his head rested on a rock. On a second glance Fitz saw a bright shade of red painting at least half of his face.

Fitz stopped looking down to avoid bringing attention to himself. He wanted to climb down and investigate further on the off chance Coulson was real and Fitz wasn't imagining things.

However, Ward wanted Coulson dead and Coulson couldn't defend himself unconscious.

So Fitz continued peering into the distance only looking down with his eyes and not his head.

A few minutes later one of the goons walked to Fitz' side and used his binoculars. Fitz gulped with anxiety praying that he didn't look down.

The goon ignored Fitz and continued. Finally he decided there was nothing to see on this side and was beginning to turn around. Fitz felt a sigh of relief coming on until the man bent down to tie his shoe. And saw Coulson.

"Ward! There's a man down there."

Ward came over excitedly and looked down. And just then the Devil appeared next to Fitz.

The Goon looked at Ward as the other goons gathered around. "Who is that?"

Fitz imagined Ward had the taste of blood in his mouth because he sounded so evil. "Phil Coulson. Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

In less than two minutes Fitz' heart was racing. Ward and his goons were gathered around Coulson in a semicircle.

Ward smiled wildly as he meticulously cocked his gun and raised his arm to take aim. He didn't fire right away. He stood there like that enjoying the moment.

Fitz couldn't stand it any longer. He pushed his way between the smirking goons and placed himself next too Ward.

Fitz said one word but he said it and sounded so different from himself that Ward brought his arm down and tilted his head to look at Fitz.

"Don't."

"Why?"

Fitz glanced at Coulson (he was real. Fitz knew this because Ward wouldn't be wanting to shoot something in Fitz' imagination.)

In a quick series of rushing thoughts, Fitz came up with a plan that could save Coulson's neck. The only challenge was getting Ward to believe.

"Coulson isn't afraid of death. If you really wanted your revenge you would keep him alive."

Ward studied Fitz. He was standing tall and his words were spoken with an air of defiance.

"You don't care if I want to hurt Coulson?"

Fitz looked directly in Ward's eyes (it's hard to make eye contact when you're lying so Fitz did this on purpose). "Coulson is a nice guy but he's a bloody stupid director and people get hurt because of his secrets and decisions. He was the reason you were able to catch Simmons and me in the first place. And he was the reason Simmons was sent here. And the reason why a good friend of mine died in Puerto Rico. And the reason plenty more have died." Fitz finished and blinked.

Ward brought his gun down a half inch further. "You didn't answer my question."

Fitz looked at Coulson who was still unconscious. "No, I don't care."

Ward stood stone faced. "Hmm…"

As he laid on what felt like hard ground Coulson found himself unable to decide if he had actually 'woken up' or if he had just and existed in the space between 'Unconscious' and 'awake'. When he couldn't decide which he tried to think about where he was. Miniscule fragments of memories played in his mind but they wouldn't connect and gave no answer. One memory played itself and Coulson saw Ros across a table bleeding a through and through neck wound. Coulson struggled to decide if it was real. He couldn't tell though he wanted to.

He couldn't move either and he wanted to. And he wanted to open his eyes and he couldn't do that either.

So in this sorry state of mind Coulson then tried to count off seconds if only to keep himself from going closer to 'Unconscious' and to get his mind off that horrible memory.

But he started to struggle after 52. _Wait. I am 52. Or am I 53?_

When he couldn't answer that question, he grew angry with himself.

So he restarted his count from one. But he stopped when he became aware of dialogue.

"Coulson isn't afraid of death. If you really wanted your revenge you would keep him alive."

 _Fitz?_ Coulson tried to call out but his mouth remained closed and his body remained still.

"You don't care if I want to hurt Coulson?"

Suddenly Coulson felt sick. That was Ward's voice.

Fitz spoke again. Coulson felt like he took a punch in the gut.

"Coulson is a nice guy but he's a bloody stupid director and people get hurt because of his secrets and decisions. He was the reason you were able to catch Simmons and me in the first place. And he was the reason Simmons was sent here. And the reason why a good friend of mine died in Puerto Rico. And the reason plenty more have died."

 _Oh I'm so sorry Fitz…_ The desire to call out overwhelmed Coulson. He put out his best effort to move, say something, open his eyes, anything, but it was in vain. He remained frozen and trapped in his mind.

More words were said but Coulson couldn't concentrate as he still tried to do something.

In a just few seconds (or minutes or hours or months or maybe years) Coulson felt a hand slide under each of his arms and grab his shoulders. Whoever owned these hands, manhandled him roughly as he felt them pulling him forward causing his legs to slide underneath his torso and bend to the point that his shins and knees faced the ground.

As he was being drug, Coulson realized that his missing limb hurt him worse than ever.


End file.
